These are my thoughts about the advent of the Stregharia tradition coming to America. This is an event that should be celebrated, but some have made it a time to cast aspersions and spread false rumors.
I have always believed in giving someone at least the benefit of the doubt when they present to me a new approach or new idea. No matter how long I have been studying something, there is always something new to learn or a different approach to be tried. Sometimes engaging with something too closely can have the effect of causing one to lose objectivity, so problem solving becomes difficult and figuring out a totally new approach requires some much needed outside input. I think that the pagan community might be in this kind situation, and could benefit from some outside benevolent intervention.
As pagan and witches, we should embrace the advent of a new idea or the discovery of an old tradition that was obscured by time. We should be flexible, open minded and use our critical thinking skills at all times to not only adequately gauge what someone is presenting, but also to cautiously judge it based solely on its merits instead of the person who is presenting it. We saw this issue emerge with the recent publication of Ben Whitmore’s book “Trials of the Moon,” where some in the pagan community were quite ready to dismiss Mr. Whitmore’s premises simply because he wasn’t a properly accredited academic. Instead, I urged people to give Mr. Whitmore a chance, and at the very least read his book carefully before critiquing it or his ideas. What we don’t need is to vilify each other and to wage witch or pagan wars either locally or nationally. We are a small group of unique individuals who are loosely grouped into various traditions, practices and beliefs. We are, in a sense, a lot like snow flakes, all analogous, but each unique and different in its own way - no two are alike. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that so much of our beliefs are based on personal experience.
As my friend Steve Posch, a living treasure of wit and wisdom in our local pagan community has said, “Christians, Jews and Muslims are people of the book, we are people of the library.” Yet we are also individuals who rely a great deal on our personal experiences, and those must, by definition, be quite different. This can cause us to passionately disagree with one of our own people over some minor point of belief because we have invested a lot of our personal inner worth with what we practice and experience in the domains of Spirit and magick. Old age, verbally having the shit kicked out of me a few times and also mellowing have taught me that my way of doings things is not the only way, and that what I believe is right and good may not agree with others who follow the same path. I have long since given up fighting petty wars with others who might only slightly disagree with me. I know, just by looking around, that there are some real enemies out there in the world who would, if they could, do me harm or suppress me for my religious activities.
We can fight our brothers and sisters with a zealous passion over minor differences, but in the end, nothing is gained and much is damaged. Since we are such a small minority in our culture, I think that a common sense rule of thumb should be that we engage with our brothers and sisters with an open mind and a tolerance that allows multiple perspectives to live and thrive together. Certainly, there are boundaries to what we will accept, but what I have found is that few of us who are jointly on this path merit any kind of uncritical condemnation or dismissal. What seems to be required in our communities is a balance between rational and objective thinking and a kind of mutual acceptance. If you can’t show any kind of respect, love or forbearance to your spiritual kindred, then to whom can you show this special compassion? Not only that, but it starts with your brothers and sisters, and should hopefully grow to include nearly everyone of all faiths, persuasions, cultures and beliefs.
The reason why I have brought up these points is that a very tragic thing has recently happened. We have been blessed recently with the arrival of a couple from Italy who represent the witchcraft movement in that country. I am speaking of arch-priestess and arch-priest Diana and Dianus who have brought a valid and living lineage of Stregharia to the west coast of the U.S. This is a momentous event, and one that we should celebrate and perhaps even be a bit excited about. While there has been a few representatives of the Strega tradition in this country since the 1960's, most notably the late Dr. Leo Martello (who represented a Sicilian branch of that faith), and more recently, with the brilliant and fascinating Raven Grimassi, this tradition has not really had a true and legitimate lineage traceable to the old country. I might be wrong about that, but I am pretty certain that no one from the actual Strega families came to this country and set up their practice with the knowledge and affirmation of their elders.
For this to happen now is a truly wonderful thing, because according to both Dianus and Diana, they have been urged by their elders to travel to this country in order to transfer their knowledge and their lineage to the fertile spiritual soil of America. They have come here not to make a fortune selling their religion, but instead came here to freely give this knowledge and its special insights to the witchcraft and pagan communities of this land. What that means is that now, for the first time, there will be a truly legitimate line of Strega, backed by the blessings and urging of the slowly dwindling Strega families in Italy. This is a very interesting and fascinating development, and we should at the very least, extend a hand in friendship and open-ness to the seeding of this old tradition in new soil. I think that it’s amazing that only now the Strega has sought to transplant itself here, and that no previous members had attempted to do this in the past. Many Italians and Sicilians migrated to this country over the last hundred years, but it’s possible that because witches are very much tied to the land of their mothers and fathers, they may have sought to stay close to their ancient lands instead of migrating, in order to continue to work its magick in the old and traditional manner.
News of this event has reached me through channels that I am not allowed to talk about just yet, but as an author and someone who is traveling the country meeting various people, my opportunities to meet fascinating and engaging people are quite high. Needless to say, Diana and Dianus, of the Benevento line of Stregharia will be giving two presentations at Pantheacon 2011. They are also beginning to teach, organize communities and to initiate worthy and interested individuals into their line of witchcraft, beginning with the San Diego area. This is all wonderful, and it would be something exciting to talk about and experience, except that there have been a few individuals who have already gone on the offensive to raise questions about the legitimacy of their tradition of Stregharia (some even demanding to know the actual line of initiates), and to specifically condemn their emphasis on the Great Rite, or sacred sexuality. These questions of legitimacy and of core practices should never be asked by someone who is not an initiate. You can either accept that they are legitimate (hopefully after meeting them) and that their teachings are valid, or not. However, no one has the right to ask for specific lineage based proof unless they are inside the tradition as initiates. The simple response is that this information is oath-bound, and I am sure that a lot of traditional initiates know what that is all about. As for the focus being on sacred sexuality and sacral nudity, I have already posted an article that explores that topic. It has long been a core discipline in a number of pagan and witchcraft traditions.
A couple of misguided fools have even resorted to saying that Diana and Dianus are potential sexual predators who should be avoided and shunned instead of greeted and engaged. Along with this condemnation is the implication that sacred sexuality and sacral nudity have no place in pagan practice, especially ones that involve the whole family, which would include children. No one in their right mind is even suggesting that underage children should be involved in sex magick or sacral nudity - these are activities exclusive to adults. Of course, all of this is astonishing, and even more so because this was publically declared before the two had even had a chance to give their very first presentation in San Diego. So without any real knowledge or anything to back up such accusations, slanderous and scandalous comments were made in what could only be construed as an atmosphere of fear and loathing. But a fear and loathing of whom or what? The potential for something happening was entirely based on zero evidence.
What seems to be going on here is actually a lot simpler and also quite tragic - someone’s afraid that their “turf” will be marginalized by the introduction of a bonafide tradition of Strega into the San Diego area. This is obviously the act of someone who is desperate to stop the intrusion of a new transplanted old tradition in the soil of our country. All this was done in ignorance and extreme prejudice, which I can only judge as being completely at odds with any kind of pagan mindset. Unfortunately, it’s always the case that a small minority will attempt to spoil and thwart the opportunities of the many simply for the sake of ego, territory and selfish personal gain. These folks have been relentless, attempting to contact Ravin Grimassi to discredit this couple and confound their selfless desire to teach and share their knowledge with us. They have actually gotten a couple authors stirred up who also contacted Mr. Grimassi. In short, they have been quite busy creating as much mischief as possible, all to no avail, because the weekend presentations in San Diego went ahead anyway.
Diana, with the help of her American translator and benefactor, Lupercus, has recently put out an interview that hopefully deals with these issues - you can find it here. What she and her mate are presenting to the public is certainly not for everyone, but only for the few who are truly interested and ready to take on the responsibility for being a representative of this venerable line of witches. They can be selective and picky about those with whom they choose to share their knowledge and practices. After recent occurrences, I can’t say that I blame them. I, myself, won’t take on just anyone who wants to learn my system of ritual magick. I want people to show me that they are willing to make a long term commitment and actually do the work, so that my time (and theirs) isn’t wasted.
I found the interview to be fascinating and also very sad, since Diana and Dianus have only been in this country for a month, and they have already experienced the petty back biting and viral gossiping that seems endemic in our small communities. I hope that this barrage of unpleasant behavior dies down and that people will give this couple the respect and open mindedness that they are due. They should be treated as we would want to be treated if we happened to travel to Italy and met with pagan folk there. Diana and Dianus are learning English, but they still need the help of a translator. I admire their perseverance, since they are here in a foreign land having to navigate in a foreign culture with a foreign language. They are not enduring this ordeal simply to enrich themselves in this new land. They came here to share their knowledge and practices, and therefore, we should accord them some very special considerations. We should be compassionate, open, engaging, kind and helpful to them, simply because they have come here with an open hand and a desire to reach out to each and all of us. How could we justify behaving in any other way?
I must say that I am looking forward to meeting both Diana and Dianus at the forthcoming Pantheacon. It will make this event memorable and quite fascinating. Whether or not I choose to take the challenge of engaging with their tradition, I believe that there is something important to learn from them. So I will listen respectfully with an open mind and an open heart. I will embrace them for coming to this country in peace and goodwill, and I will show them that American pagans are worthy of their outreach. I hope that you will accord them the same respect and openness, if they should come to your town in the months ahead.
I have always believed in giving someone at least the benefit of the doubt when they present to me a new approach or new idea. No matter how long I have been studying something, there is always something new to learn or a different approach to be tried. Sometimes engaging with something too closely can have the effect of causing one to lose objectivity, so problem solving becomes difficult and figuring out a totally new approach requires some much needed outside input. I think that the pagan community might be in this kind situation, and could benefit from some outside benevolent intervention.
As pagan and witches, we should embrace the advent of a new idea or the discovery of an old tradition that was obscured by time. We should be flexible, open minded and use our critical thinking skills at all times to not only adequately gauge what someone is presenting, but also to cautiously judge it based solely on its merits instead of the person who is presenting it. We saw this issue emerge with the recent publication of Ben Whitmore’s book “Trials of the Moon,” where some in the pagan community were quite ready to dismiss Mr. Whitmore’s premises simply because he wasn’t a properly accredited academic. Instead, I urged people to give Mr. Whitmore a chance, and at the very least read his book carefully before critiquing it or his ideas. What we don’t need is to vilify each other and to wage witch or pagan wars either locally or nationally. We are a small group of unique individuals who are loosely grouped into various traditions, practices and beliefs. We are, in a sense, a lot like snow flakes, all analogous, but each unique and different in its own way - no two are alike. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that so much of our beliefs are based on personal experience.
As my friend Steve Posch, a living treasure of wit and wisdom in our local pagan community has said, “Christians, Jews and Muslims are people of the book, we are people of the library.” Yet we are also individuals who rely a great deal on our personal experiences, and those must, by definition, be quite different. This can cause us to passionately disagree with one of our own people over some minor point of belief because we have invested a lot of our personal inner worth with what we practice and experience in the domains of Spirit and magick. Old age, verbally having the shit kicked out of me a few times and also mellowing have taught me that my way of doings things is not the only way, and that what I believe is right and good may not agree with others who follow the same path. I have long since given up fighting petty wars with others who might only slightly disagree with me. I know, just by looking around, that there are some real enemies out there in the world who would, if they could, do me harm or suppress me for my religious activities.
We can fight our brothers and sisters with a zealous passion over minor differences, but in the end, nothing is gained and much is damaged. Since we are such a small minority in our culture, I think that a common sense rule of thumb should be that we engage with our brothers and sisters with an open mind and a tolerance that allows multiple perspectives to live and thrive together. Certainly, there are boundaries to what we will accept, but what I have found is that few of us who are jointly on this path merit any kind of uncritical condemnation or dismissal. What seems to be required in our communities is a balance between rational and objective thinking and a kind of mutual acceptance. If you can’t show any kind of respect, love or forbearance to your spiritual kindred, then to whom can you show this special compassion? Not only that, but it starts with your brothers and sisters, and should hopefully grow to include nearly everyone of all faiths, persuasions, cultures and beliefs.
The reason why I have brought up these points is that a very tragic thing has recently happened. We have been blessed recently with the arrival of a couple from Italy who represent the witchcraft movement in that country. I am speaking of arch-priestess and arch-priest Diana and Dianus who have brought a valid and living lineage of Stregharia to the west coast of the U.S. This is a momentous event, and one that we should celebrate and perhaps even be a bit excited about. While there has been a few representatives of the Strega tradition in this country since the 1960's, most notably the late Dr. Leo Martello (who represented a Sicilian branch of that faith), and more recently, with the brilliant and fascinating Raven Grimassi, this tradition has not really had a true and legitimate lineage traceable to the old country. I might be wrong about that, but I am pretty certain that no one from the actual Strega families came to this country and set up their practice with the knowledge and affirmation of their elders.
For this to happen now is a truly wonderful thing, because according to both Dianus and Diana, they have been urged by their elders to travel to this country in order to transfer their knowledge and their lineage to the fertile spiritual soil of America. They have come here not to make a fortune selling their religion, but instead came here to freely give this knowledge and its special insights to the witchcraft and pagan communities of this land. What that means is that now, for the first time, there will be a truly legitimate line of Strega, backed by the blessings and urging of the slowly dwindling Strega families in Italy. This is a very interesting and fascinating development, and we should at the very least, extend a hand in friendship and open-ness to the seeding of this old tradition in new soil. I think that it’s amazing that only now the Strega has sought to transplant itself here, and that no previous members had attempted to do this in the past. Many Italians and Sicilians migrated to this country over the last hundred years, but it’s possible that because witches are very much tied to the land of their mothers and fathers, they may have sought to stay close to their ancient lands instead of migrating, in order to continue to work its magick in the old and traditional manner.
News of this event has reached me through channels that I am not allowed to talk about just yet, but as an author and someone who is traveling the country meeting various people, my opportunities to meet fascinating and engaging people are quite high. Needless to say, Diana and Dianus, of the Benevento line of Stregharia will be giving two presentations at Pantheacon 2011. They are also beginning to teach, organize communities and to initiate worthy and interested individuals into their line of witchcraft, beginning with the San Diego area. This is all wonderful, and it would be something exciting to talk about and experience, except that there have been a few individuals who have already gone on the offensive to raise questions about the legitimacy of their tradition of Stregharia (some even demanding to know the actual line of initiates), and to specifically condemn their emphasis on the Great Rite, or sacred sexuality. These questions of legitimacy and of core practices should never be asked by someone who is not an initiate. You can either accept that they are legitimate (hopefully after meeting them) and that their teachings are valid, or not. However, no one has the right to ask for specific lineage based proof unless they are inside the tradition as initiates. The simple response is that this information is oath-bound, and I am sure that a lot of traditional initiates know what that is all about. As for the focus being on sacred sexuality and sacral nudity, I have already posted an article that explores that topic. It has long been a core discipline in a number of pagan and witchcraft traditions.
A couple of misguided fools have even resorted to saying that Diana and Dianus are potential sexual predators who should be avoided and shunned instead of greeted and engaged. Along with this condemnation is the implication that sacred sexuality and sacral nudity have no place in pagan practice, especially ones that involve the whole family, which would include children. No one in their right mind is even suggesting that underage children should be involved in sex magick or sacral nudity - these are activities exclusive to adults. Of course, all of this is astonishing, and even more so because this was publically declared before the two had even had a chance to give their very first presentation in San Diego. So without any real knowledge or anything to back up such accusations, slanderous and scandalous comments were made in what could only be construed as an atmosphere of fear and loathing. But a fear and loathing of whom or what? The potential for something happening was entirely based on zero evidence.
What seems to be going on here is actually a lot simpler and also quite tragic - someone’s afraid that their “turf” will be marginalized by the introduction of a bonafide tradition of Strega into the San Diego area. This is obviously the act of someone who is desperate to stop the intrusion of a new transplanted old tradition in the soil of our country. All this was done in ignorance and extreme prejudice, which I can only judge as being completely at odds with any kind of pagan mindset. Unfortunately, it’s always the case that a small minority will attempt to spoil and thwart the opportunities of the many simply for the sake of ego, territory and selfish personal gain. These folks have been relentless, attempting to contact Ravin Grimassi to discredit this couple and confound their selfless desire to teach and share their knowledge with us. They have actually gotten a couple authors stirred up who also contacted Mr. Grimassi. In short, they have been quite busy creating as much mischief as possible, all to no avail, because the weekend presentations in San Diego went ahead anyway.
Diana, with the help of her American translator and benefactor, Lupercus, has recently put out an interview that hopefully deals with these issues - you can find it here. What she and her mate are presenting to the public is certainly not for everyone, but only for the few who are truly interested and ready to take on the responsibility for being a representative of this venerable line of witches. They can be selective and picky about those with whom they choose to share their knowledge and practices. After recent occurrences, I can’t say that I blame them. I, myself, won’t take on just anyone who wants to learn my system of ritual magick. I want people to show me that they are willing to make a long term commitment and actually do the work, so that my time (and theirs) isn’t wasted.
I found the interview to be fascinating and also very sad, since Diana and Dianus have only been in this country for a month, and they have already experienced the petty back biting and viral gossiping that seems endemic in our small communities. I hope that this barrage of unpleasant behavior dies down and that people will give this couple the respect and open mindedness that they are due. They should be treated as we would want to be treated if we happened to travel to Italy and met with pagan folk there. Diana and Dianus are learning English, but they still need the help of a translator. I admire their perseverance, since they are here in a foreign land having to navigate in a foreign culture with a foreign language. They are not enduring this ordeal simply to enrich themselves in this new land. They came here to share their knowledge and practices, and therefore, we should accord them some very special considerations. We should be compassionate, open, engaging, kind and helpful to them, simply because they have come here with an open hand and a desire to reach out to each and all of us. How could we justify behaving in any other way?
I must say that I am looking forward to meeting both Diana and Dianus at the forthcoming Pantheacon. It will make this event memorable and quite fascinating. Whether or not I choose to take the challenge of engaging with their tradition, I believe that there is something important to learn from them. So I will listen respectfully with an open mind and an open heart. I will embrace them for coming to this country in peace and goodwill, and I will show them that American pagans are worthy of their outreach. I hope that you will accord them the same respect and openness, if they should come to your town in the months ahead.
“Possa la luce della Luna e del Sole vi benedica con la loro luce e di amore.”
Frater Barrabbas
